Secrets, Lies, and Alibis
by MuddPaw
Summary: Previous Title: Secrets on Page 47. After months of isolation Ben and Abigail have reappeared in Riley's life with a new quest: the secret of page forty seven. But that's not the only secret being kept between the trio. Things aren't always what they seem
1. Prologue

Riley Poole sat at his book signing table

**Disclaimer: I don't own National Treasure or I would be making the new movie that will be coming out in 2010. (Hooray!) **

**Disclaimer2: I don't own Borders. But can you imagine? All those books! **

**A/N: This story contains spoilers about National Treasure and National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. **

**I'm trying to come up with a new title. So the title of this fanfiction will temporally be changed later this week. **

**Thanks for reading. Enjoy!**

--

Riley Poole sat at his book signing table. His new book A City of Gold sat next to him.

Let's just say that this was not the best day ever. He had signed exactly five books, been mistaken for Ben thirteen times, had to tell three people that he was Ben so they would buy his book, convince seven people that he actually existed and helped find the treasure, and exactly one hour ago he had gone outside to get some more of his books (not that he needed them, he was trying to get away from a person who had just realized that he was actually not Ben Gates.) and found out that he had left his convertible top open. Normally this wouldn't bug him, he had the best security system in probably the entire country. But it was raining. Not a drizzle, not a nice, summer, gentle rainfall that starts and stops very quickly. Nope, a thunderstorm, with lightning, rain pouring down in buckets from the sky. When he had stepped outside to his socks had been soaked through in a matter of seconds.

"You still haven't given up have you?" Riley looked up prepared to say…well he wasn't exactly sure what he was going to say. But when he looked up he saw a smiling face.

"Ben…and Abigail!" He greeted happily when Abigail stepped out from behind a history shelf.

"Exactly how many books have you sold?" Abigail asked picking up a copy of A City of Gold and thumbing through it. Riley ignored the question.

"What are you doing here?"

"That few huh? What like…fifteen?" Abigail was wrong but Riley jumped at the chance.

"Yes actually-"

"I asked the lady at the desk, you've only sold seven." Intervened Ben.

"Five." Riley mumbled shame faced. But to his surprise Ben held up a plastic bag

"Seven."

"But I ent you both free copies!"

"Hmm…must have been lost in all those boxes. I'm moving back in you know."

"No I didn't." Riley sounded huffy and slightly annoyed. "I haven't seen you in weeks."

"No you haven't."

"Well, why?" He knew he sounded childish, but he couldn't help it. It had been four or five months since he'd seen Ben and Abigail. After they'd found that city of gold under Mt. Rushmore and been to dinner at the white house to be honored – Riley apparently had been nudging Abigail the whole time without knowing it – they had disappeared. Riley had left message after message about having them over to his place. He'd gotten a postcard from California.

DEAR RILEY,

ABIGAIL AND I HAVE DECIDED TO SPEND SOMETIME IN CALIFORNIA. THERE IS A CONFERENCE HERE ON EARLY NATIVE AMERICAN HISTORY MY MOTHER IS ATTENDING. WE THOUGHT TAG ALONG.

SEE YOU IN JUNE.

SINCERELY,

BEN.

But now it was August and except for a phone call – not even from Ben but from Patrick Gates- telling him that the FBI had found his giant yellow backpack in one of the city's flooded rooms – but they had taken out the slab of gold – and that they were to split fifty percent of the treasure. .

So when Riley demanded:

"Where have you guys been?" And Ben answered:

"Oh, nowhere." It was perfectly understandable for Riley to get mad.

But when Ben said:

"Remember page 47?" All the anger flooded out of him. He wanted to celebrate, but obviously he would have looked strange doing a happy dance in the history section of Borders. They needed him! They hadn't completely deserted him, anyway. That was fine with him.

Riley had always been quick to forgive.

"Yes but what-?"

"Well, we found something that might interest you…"

"We need your help." Said Abigail. Riley looked around at his table, out at his wet car, and thought about how he'd only sold five…wait no seven books. He then realized his life probably couldn't get any worse than it was at that second.

"I'm in."


	2. Chapter 1: Kitcher

72

**Disclaimer: I don't own National Treasure. But that would be very cool. **

**--**

Abigail disappeared back into the shelves while Riley packed up his things.

"A little help here Ben?" Ben walked over and picked up one of Riley's bags.

"What is all this stuff?"

"Laptop in bag, collapsible table in box, copy of first book, collapsible "Meet the Author" sign in box with table, stuff like my wallet and extra glasses and car keys that go in the laptop bag I usually carry around anyway, signed photos the bookshop owner asked me to bring, reader's only copy of both books, extra pens, and fake golden statue that I was required to bring even thought it's very _very_ tacky."

"Do you usually carry this much stuff around?"

"Certainly not, I've been known to read the "Meet the Author" sign at home." Ben shifted the table and meet the author sign in his arms so he could hold them more comfortably.

"Good because this sign could throw my back out."

Abigail appeared beside them and laughed, taking one of Riley's big boxes.

"Are you coming back here tomorrow?"

"Don't know, my guess is that if I didn't, I surely wouldn't be missed.

"Good because we've got a lot to do." Ben said as they stepped outside and headed toward Riley's car.

"We?" As in you're finally going to tell me what was on page forty seven?"

'I would have told you!"

"Then why not? Huh…I'm sure you told your girl friend!"

"Well, honestly Riley you never answer your phone, or you'd have known-"

"Known what?" Riley dumped his things into the newly bought red Ferrari and turned around. "That you have another mission? That you and Abigail are married and have three kids and a white house with a picket fence and I'm an Uncle? That aliens have invaded your brains and that's why I haven't seen you in weeks?" "

"Um…Well, one and a half out of three ain't bad."

"You mean you're…?" Riley stood speechless for a moment. "You…and…you…and him are…" Riley pointed to Abigail then to Ben and back again till Abigail screeched:

"We're getting married!" She and Ben dropped Riley's things unceremoniously into his trunk. Riley grimaced at the clunking sound then let out a very Un-Riley-ish whoop and hugged Abigail then slapped Ben on the back.

"Took you long enough! Oh, and the uncle thing? I totally call godfather when you and Abigail have kids."

"You already called Best Man Riley." Ben rolled his eyes smiling.

Riley felt genuinely happy, but there was a something nagging at the back of his mind.

"Wait another thing? Are we going on another tr-" Rley felt very excited. Without Ben and Abigail his life was somewhat boring.

"Can we talk somewhere more private?"

"Yeah, oh sure. My place is around the corner."

"Shall we follow your car?"

--

When Riley pulled up to his small townhouse it was raining again, he and his wet car parked. He picked up his boxes and walked up to the doorway. He watched Abigail and Ben rush up to the porch out of the drizzle, then handed his boxes to Ben.

"I have my key somewhere…" He muttered fishing in and out of his pockets and laptop bag.

"Can we hurry this up?" Grunted Ben under the weight of a table box, tacky golden statue and "Meet the Author" sign.

"Oh, here!" Riley opened the door, entered, and flicked on the light.

"Tea? Coffee?" He asked hurrying to his kitchen and starting the coffee pot and kettle.

Riley's place was nice. It was sparsley furnished but very clean. There was a nice sitting area nearby with a small tv. But boxes threaten to overwhelm the entire room. Each labled in of Riley's messy handwritng.

Abigail looked at one of the boxes. "Kitcher."

"Kitchen." Riley corrected putting down his laptop almost lovingly.

"Um…Riley we got FIFTY percent of the last treasure. What's with…?" Ben gestured around then promptly dropped the box onto his foot. As Ben hopped around the room on one foot Riley said nonchalantly:

"Oh, yeah _any where's _fine."

"Ouch!"

"I'm building my new place, but this has been my place since I was out of college."

Ben sat down with Abigail at his side.

"Now tell me!" Demanded Riley his back still turned to them. Ben sighed and wincing in pain said two words.

Riley turned fully around.

"You've _got_ to be kidding me."


	3. Chapter 2: Coffee and Tea

"A letter

**Disclaimer: I don't own National Treasure. I'd like to, I'd be very rich! **

--

"_Don't know? _You '_Don't Know?"_ Riley scoffed, looking almost disgusted. "You don't remember?"

"No…I just didn't get it."

"You're practically a history book!"

"Well it wasn't in English."

"Well that's just great." Riley collapsed dramatically onto the couch. He didn't want to admit he'd been so excited. He wanted Abigail and Ben to believe his life had some substance.

Then Riley became curious. "What language was it in?" He asked.

"We can't tell, the picture made the text fuzzy, and…" Riley sat up, felling a little hopeful.

"_And…?"_ The kettle whistled and the coffee pot bleeped. Riley stood up and began pouring the drinks

"I broke my phone."

"How?"

"Birdbath, Cadillac incident."

"I don't even want to know."

"So this is where you come in." Abigail smiled.

"Set up my laptop." Riley was practically beaming, his back to hiss friends. They needed him, and the fact that he had been shut out for months no longer mattered to him. Abigail took out Riley's thin laptop and pressed the on button.

PASSWORD?

Inquired the screen.

"Riley what's your password?"

"I can't tell you that!"

"Why?"

"It's private. Press F4, Shift, Control, Alt, Delete, Enter."

'What will that do?"

"Just do it." Riley sighed

PASSWORD OVERRIDE? :

"What now?"

"12312000" Abigail typed the sequence in.

PASWORD OVERIDDEN

Proclaimed the screen in big, bold, black letters.

"So what do you think it was?" Riley came over and bent to put the coffees and tea on the coffee table.

"I think," Ben took a sip of coffee and Riley pulled his laptop close to him. "I think it was a letter. Written by an early president by the type of writing."

The trio sat in silence as Riley tapped away on his laptop. Riley's cell phone beeped and then out of his pocket a voice started talking.

'Um…Hi Riley, it's me. Just wondering if you're busy this Sunday. My parents are coming into town and they want to meet you. Call me back when you get this. Bye."

Abigail and Ben looked at Riley.

"How is Lucy?" Lucy was Riley's new girlfriend, the one he had met a few months ago after they had found the city of gold."

"Lucy?" Said Riley distracted by his imaging. 'Oh, she's good. Yeah, yeah! She's good."

"Thing's getting kind of serious?"

"Ben." Abigail said warningly.

"What? I was just saying that-"

"Here!" Riley practically screeched. He smiled suddenly and turned his computer around. Ben glanced at the screen.

"Perfect." He set to work copying the phrases onto a sheet of paper.

Abigail picked up a newspaper strewn across the sofa. It was ripped in half and the headline of an article was chopped off.

"Hey Riley look. Some kid genius. Must be related to you!" She joked. "Won some award." Riley had been taking a sip of his drink , and let out a choking, strangled laugh.

"Abigail, I'm one of a kind!" he flashed a winning smile and raised his eyebrows.

"Um…why don't you just show this to your mom again?" He asked Ben. "She could do it."

"I sent the picture to her and even from a fuzzy distance she said she didn't know it."

"Is it a code?"

"Maybe. But probably another ancient language. But…"

"_But?_"

"I think it could be flipped, backwards, or something…I can't even tell. It could be a code. Where would we get that equipment.?"

"Didn't we do that last time, with the languages and codes?" Riley complained.

Abigail, still reading the article, said suddenly. "Hey this kid."

"What?"

"Awards in science labs and endangered languages." Ben smiled at her.

"Well, this kid is what we need then. What's her name?"

"Riley ripped the name off, so-"

"I…I wanted an article on new laptop firewalls!" Riley said defensively.

Ben laughed, then grimaced.

"Where can we find the kid then?"

"Educational Institute for the Gifted and Talented. The article mentions it. In Marilyn." Riley paled a bit.

"No!" He said. Abigail and Ben stared at him.

"You can't do it?"

"The security on that place is tight. I've tried before. Can't even hack into to a get an appointment. crashed my whole setup, I lost every single file! It's impossible, totally impossible!"

"What can we do Ben?" Asked Abigail. 'Can we sneak in?"  
"No, guards and stuff. It's the best school in almost the whole world!" Riley ranted.

Ben was watching Riley pace around the room a bit.

"Ben?"

"Why were you trying to hack them?"

"Information a college of mine, um…needed."

"Ben?" Abigail asked again.

"He can do it."

"What?"

"Riley can get us in." Riley stopped acting strangely.

"No!"

"Yes, you can, when you lie you start pacing. I heard you doing it over the phone when you told me that you weren't throwing a surprise birthday party for me."

"Well…yeah. I…I can." Riley flipped up his cell phone and hit a number.

"Hello, this is Riley Poole.

Actually yes!

Yes.

Hmmm…okay.

'Kay

Thanks.

Bye."

Riley flipped hiss phone closed.

"They're expecting us in tomorrow."


	4. Chapter 3: Are We There Yet?

"Riley you've been 'e-mailing' Lucy for two hours

**Disclaimer: I don't own National Treasure or Borders. But I bet you can get NT DVD's **_**at**_** Borders. **

--

"Are we there yet?" Riley had been reading for the last hour, stopping every ten minutes to ask if they were there yet.

"Riley." Said Abigail. 'You've asked that question a million times!"

"I'm tired. And hungry." Riley said defensively.

"We can't stop. We'll never get there."

"Well, that's fine for people who ate lunch. But I was sitting in Borders all day with my this," Riley held up his shiny, new, black laptop. "Working and having people come up to me and say: Aren't you Ben Gates?"

"What did you tell them?"

"I told them I was Abigail."

Ben laughed.

"No really."

"I'd say 'No. But I helped find the treasure.' Then they'd say "Huh. Never heard of _you_.

_Or_ I'd say: 'Yes, yes I am.' Then they'd say: 'I thought you'd be taller' or 'Wow! Can I have your autograph!' Nobody cares about Riley Poole."

"We care!"

"Thanks for the sympathy Abigail."

The minuets passed slowly. Abigail was writing in a notebook and every few minutes she'd say something like:

"Champagne or white table clothes?"

"What do you want?"

"I like champagne. It's a rich colour. Not yellow, but nice."

"Then we'll go with that."

Finally after a discussion concerning napkin colors Ben asked.

"What are you reading anyway?" He looked at Riley in rearview mirror.

"Well…I…well, nothing."

"Come on Riley!" Abigail tried to snatch the book away.

But Riley ignored her and continued to read a book sitting on his lap.  
"Riley you've been 'e-mailing' Lucy and reading 'nothing' and listening to 'stuff' forever. What's really going on?" Abigail turned in her seat as Riley continued to stare at his book.

"Well you've been planning a wedding for two hours! I don't even know what colour c_yan _is! And Ben, chocolate cake is really much better than vanilla." He said this not even looking up.

"Relax Abigail." Sighed Ben. If Riley wasn't complaining then things might be nice. "He's probably hacking or doing something illegal."

"Hey! I only do illegal thing when you're around!...And that one time in the tenth grade." Riley muttered the last part very quietly.

"Riley!"

"No Abigail. He's right."

"Thank you!"

"He also has the most fun with us." Ben smirked.

"That's not…No. No, you're right."

"Thank you."

There was a long pause, then he spoke again.

"Isn't this too convenient?"

"Huh?"

"I mean we just _happen_ to find an article about some random kid being a science language genius? And suddenly we're going to Boston? I don't believe it. Let's go home."

"Riley!"

"Nope, just turn the car around Ben! You know gas prices!" "

"Hmmm….Let me think about it." Ben answered. "NO!

Riley huffed grumpily.

--

He must have fell asleep, because next thing Riley knew it was dark and he felt extremely tired. He felt very cramped from being curled up in the back seat. He was about to say the infamous line:

"Are we there yet?" But when he opened his mouth Abigail said:

"What do we do about Riley?"

Upon hearing this Riley feigned sleep. The car was still, and he was tired. Plus he wanted to see why Abigail and Ben were talking about him.

Ben sighed.

"I don't know! What should we do? "

'I think it's best to leave him in the dark."

What was going on? Were Ben and Abigail lying to him? He listened again.

"He'll care though." Riley heard Ben shift in his seat and say:

"He's asleep."

Riley felt this was his cue. He yawned loudly and sat up rubbing his eyes.

"What's going on? Why isn't the car moving?"

"Stuck in traffic, accident up ahead or something."  
"Hey Riley, what color suit do you want to wear at the wedding? I say black, but Ben said white." Abigail looked at him, pen poised over her notebook paper.

They weren't lying to him. They just wanted to know what kind of suit he should wear. He felt incredibly stupid, but agreed with Abigail.

"Black!"

--

"Hooray!!" Riley cheered crashing on to his bed at the hotel. He set up his things on the desk then fell asleep.

It was two in the morning.


	5. Chapter 4: Fruitless Errands

Riley awoke the next morning at eleven

Ben hammered on Riley's door the next morning.

"RILEY!" He yelled "WAKE UP NOW!"

A little old lady stuck her head out of the door and said

"SHHHSH!!"

Abigail came out of the room tucking her wallet into her purse.

"Why won't he get up?! You," Ben lowered his voice considerably. "you don't think he heard us last night…about…well you know the thing-"

"About what?"

Riley was walking down the hallway. He was wearing a nice jacket, black laptop shouldered bag and a coffee in his left hand. He had on his dark rectangular glasses.

"What are you-"

"I was out getting coffee!" Riley seemed in an unnatural good morning mood.

Riley was more of a night person, peering over his glasses all night at the bright white computer screen. Well, until he became a treasure hunter. Being a treasure hunter was definitely a day job. But he was definitely not a morning person.

So when Riley was up at nine in the morning (bearing in mind he had fell asleep at two in the morning) grinning as if he'd something, it was suspicious. Especially because he'd told Ben last night that there was a rule about waking the computer genius up before twelve. To which Ben had replied: good, and that he'd see Riley at eight.

But Riley had not answered his door at eight, nor at eight fifteen, thirty or forty five.

"For an hour?"

"I had to call Lucy!"

"That took an hour?"

"I said I was getting coffee!"

"Well come on we have a lot to do."

"Like what?" They were walking to the elevator now.

"Abigail wants to send a postcard to her brother in Phoenix. I need to get another tie because the one I packed is stained. The car needs gas. We need breakfast. Abigail wants to buy a book. We need to check the appointment time. And you need shoes."

Riley frowned as Ben pointed at his sneakers.

"I was walking a lot!"

"To the coffee shop?"

"Yes."

There was a small pause until Riley asked:.

"So Abigail, you've got a brother in Phoenix. What's he like?"

"Oh, he's been doing well. Has a wife and some kids."

"Good, good." Said Riley distracted by the elevator buttons.

"What's your family like?" They had entered the elevator and Riley had been taking a swig of his decaf hazelnut coffee. He choked and sputtered out.

"I don't have much family."

"Really?"

"A couple of cousins on my mom's side." Riley had swallowed.

"Okay." Abigail nodded. "Interesting…" For she could not really think of anything else to say.

The elevator dinged on the first floor. And while Abigail was in the gift shop buying a postcard that said:

_I saved a load of Benjamin's buying you this postcard_

Ben asked:

"So where'd you really go?"

"When?" Riley was looking at a novelty tee-shirt that said:

_Boston MA _

"This morning."

"To the coffee place! I told you that. It's a little far away."

"You do know there's a Starbucks in the lobby don't you?"

Riley completely ignored this comment and instead asked:

"I want to get Lucy something. What do you thing she'd want?"

"A copy of you book?"

"I already…" Riley never finished his comment because he had looked to where Ben was pointing and his mouth opened into a comical O.

"MY BOOKS!" He rushed over to the book section and gazed almost lovingly at a stand where The Templar Treasure and A City of Gold were sitting.

"THIS IS MY BOOK!" He almost yelled at a random person.

"Why is this so exciting to you?"

"I don't know…but it is. It's got it's own stand. And people are buying it! And…and…I really need a life."

"Yes, Riley. You really do."

.After the gift shop and Riley's unexplainable joy of having found out that people bought his book in other states they made their way to the hotel café.

They ordered and were sitting in the sun eating muffins, bagels, and bagels with lox, when Riley called the school they would be visiting.

"Hello, this is Riley Poole confirming an appointment for two o'clock."

"Hmm…What? Oh yesterday."

"Thank you."

"Goodbye."

"We're confirmed."

Ben looked up from his bagel and lox, with cream cheese and capers. "Good. Now," He lowered his voice considerably. "We have something to tell you."

"Hhut" Riley asked his mouth full of blueberry muffin. He gulped his decaf hazelnut coffee. "Okay, shoot."

"Well, you might have noticed that we've been acting a little strange lately."

:Kind of I mean you keep looking at me funny. And I don't think that Abigail has been only writing wedding details in that notebook."

"It's…I, I mean we…well, it's…"

"What?"

"Not like that at all!"

"It's not?"

"No…Uh…we're going with a chocolate cake!"

"Okaaay…and you felt the need to tell me this because…?"

"We thought you ought to know."

"'Kay. That's uh…wonderful?" Now Riley was sure that Ben and Abigail were very crazy.

After many more strange looks and another cup of coffee the trio headed towards the bookstore.

"What book do you want?" Asked Riley as they walked in.

"Well, a wedding panning book because when ever I ask you guys a question Ben says 'what do you want?' and you say "I don't care!' Then you yell it five more times. And we NEVER get anywhere. And a book about South African History, we've been sold some interesting letters and documents at the museum. You know-"

"Oh, well. I don't care."

"Riley!"

Soon they were checked out and Riley became very disappointed that a random hotel gift shop had sold his book but the Barnes and Nobles hadn't.

After a few more fruitless errands Riley, Ben, and Abigail changed at the hotel (Ben actually stole Riley's sneakers because he'd warned them that the school was fancy.)

--

It was one twenty nine . and Ben, Abigail, and Riley were standing outside a giant white building. It was as big as Ben and Abigail's house. There were thin white pillars around the place. The name of the school was written in fancy blue letters at the top. It was impressive, very impressive.

"Did you know," Said Riley as they walked up the steps. "That John Quincy Adams

was-"

"Born in Massachusetts ." answered Ben and Abigail in a sing- songy tone.

Riley stomped his feet and ended up with scuff marks on his nice shoes.

--

They walked up the steps to the school, and opened the heavy door.

Inside was a great hall, you could have fit more than seven of Riley's town houses in there. The ceilings were high and domed. The place was very empty.

Riley strode over to a desk, then gave a little cough so that the gray haired secretary looked up from a magazine. She was probably about three hundred years old.

"Yes?" She said in the highest, most obnoxious, gravely voice ever.

Riley smiled, trying to be friendly.

"Hello, I'm Riley Poole. I have an appointment for one thirty.

"Oh." Then she shrieked into a doorway. "Miriam! Poole's here!"

A middle aged pump, black haired lady appeared. Grasping Riley's hand she announced.

"Hello! How are you? Come with me with me…" Riley beckoned to Ben and Abigail (who were looking a little confused.) The four-some walked silently. Their footstep's echoed on the marble floors.

"Good to be back Mr. Poole?"

Riley coughed and mumbled something that sounded like "Shmessh."

"You went to school here Riley?" Abigail looked interested.

'One of our finest students. The best with the exception of his…oh here it is."

Miriam opened a door (never finishing her sentence and let them in. She closed the door behind them with a bang. There was a girl standing there with a long plait and goggles on. She jumped at the noise away from the lab equipment. But as she saw them her bright eyes flashed and her face contorted with fury.

"You!"


	6. Chapter 5: Bookshelves

"Now, now Morgan

"Now, now!" Scolded Miriam. "Who are you yelling at?"

The girl looked around wildly. The lab was empty except for the four of them. There were high bookshelves behind her and bright white lab equipment in a corner, but apparently the person she was looking for wasn't there. "I…I don't…thought I saw…I…? I'm uh really sorry." The girl apologized, her expression changing from amazement to confusion to embarrassment rather quickly.

"This is Morgan Haylee." Introduced Miriam.

Morgan was a young teenager, with dark hair and bright eyes. She seemed vaguely familiar to Ben, but he was sure he'd never even seen her before.

"Morgan is one of our brightest students here at John Quincy Adam's Educational Institute.

"Is she now?" Asked Ben with a half smile.

"Yes, she is." Said Miriam apparently missing the humor in Ben's voice.

A woman appeared in the doorway wearing a navy blue uniform.

"Miriam!" She called urgently then gestured towards the woman, who said:

"Oh, please excuse me!" Then she stepped out.  
"So," Said Ben wasting no time at all. "Morgan, Or do you like Miss-"

"No sir!" Morgan exclaimed cutting him off.

"Well, I am Benjamin Gates and this," He gestured "is Dr. Abigail Chase."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Gates, Dr. I've read a book about you two."

"Have you? Well that's great. Listen we know you have an award in special types of sciences and also in endangered languages."

"Yeaaah." The girl stretched out the word furrowing her brow.

"Can you tell me what language this is in Miss Morgan?"

'The girl looked at the print out. Squinted at it, then said.

"Probably." She turned around and started grabbing books off the shelves and brought them over to a table in the exact center of the room.

"I'm surprised you saw that. I won that three years ago." Abigail elbowed Ben, but he just shrugged. Morgan began flipping through some of the books, then she took the document out of Ben's hands.

"Well, you certainly know what you're doing." Ben said and she wore a little smiled, but her smile then faltered when she looked at the page.

"Where did you get this?" She asked slowly.

"Why?" Asked Abigail urgently.

"Well," the girl scanned the index of an extremely old book glancing now and then at the document. 'It's a mixture of a few languages."

"A few?"

"Three to be exact. This is English-"

"English?" But Morgan ignored him.

"This is Tobian. And this is not a language I don't recognize." She pointed to different parts of the page as she spoke. "It alternates," she explained. "And the image is mirrored and flipped.

"Amazing." Ben looked at the page. She pulled the document over to a big piece of equipment. And inserted it into a computer tray.

"Who does your scans?" She asked while she typed.

"Huh?"

"This image. It's good, clean cut."

"That is the specialty's of or own personal computer geek." Ben turned to smile at Riley, then realized…Riley wasn't there.

"Where's-?"

"I'm sure he just went to the bathroom or something." Abigail whispered back.

"Well, your computer geek is a good imager, I haven't seen a picture like this for a long time." Morgan muttered. Then she smiled and said: "Here!"

The image on screen flipped around. The when Morgan typed a code in and pressed enter triumphantly.

Words on the screen translated to English.

"What." Said Morgan.

Abigail who couldn't see asked

"What is it Ben?"

But Ben just said:

"I thought so." He reached over Morgan's shoulder and pressed PRINT SCREEN.

"Well, thank you Miss Morgan."

Morgan snapped back to life.

"What is this?"

"Huh?" Ben grabbed the print out from the computer and rolled it up.

"It this a letter to Benedict Arnold?"

"Listen Morgan, this is important government property, you can't tell anyone-"

Abigail grabbed the paper, then stared at it: "What is it?"

"It's-"

Suddenly there was a bang and Riley fell into the room.

"You!" Morgan looked angry again. "I knew that I saw you before Riley!"

"Uh…hi Haylee."

"What are you doing?"

"I was listening at the door-"

"What was on the-"

"Will you just leave?"

"WHAT IS GOING ON!?" Ben's shout was the loudest over the commotion. Every turned to stare at him. "Can we sit down or something?" He said much more calmly.

"Okay." Ben said when they had all reluctantly pulled out chairs. "Let's clear something up.

"Yup." Morgan was glaring at Riley as she said this.

"And you know her?"

"Yeah." Riley muttered slumping in his seat.

"Good. Now I don't know what's going on or what but-"

'What did Riley beat you in a science fair or something?" Abigail asked,

"He wouldn't have won that science fair if Mrs. Loren hadn't liked him so much!"

'I won that Science Fair fair and square!"

"You made electricity out of pickles!"

"So?"

"It's been done before! But," She looked at Ben. "That's not why he should leave now."

"What then?"

Riley sighed and said:

"She's my baby sister."


End file.
